I have been using Spark 4G rural wireless broadband for over two years. Apart from some early variability, the connection has been consistently solid since March this year with 90 – 100 Mb/s download and 40-50 Mb/s upload. My computer connection is Ethernet, not Wifi.

My house in the Western Bay of Plenty is on the top of a 100m hill with no obstruction to the tower on the next hill, 2 km away. The modem faces the tower through glass doors. The modem statistics for signal quality and strength are excellent and are unaffected by the speed problem.RSRQ = -3dB, RSRP = -77 dBm, SINR = 21 dB.

The download speed dropped dramatically in the first week of October to 1-5 Mb/s. After no improvement I lodged a fault call with Spark on 8 October. Resets at both ends didn’t help. A replacement modem was supplied but it made no difference and the issue was sent back to the network team on 20 October. After no response I chased up the fault call on 31 Oct and went through another reset without success.

Spark said the issue couldn’t be escalated unless I recorded speed tests over a day and sent them via email after which I would be called back the next morning (1 Nov). A couple of dozen test results were recorded and emailed, covering 7.40 am to 10.40pm, mainly for 31 Oct but some were recorded during the previous days. Min/Max downloads = 1.74 – 7.99 Mb/s. Min/Max uploads = 13.81 – 37.29 Mb/s. There was no call-back and no response to the email.

As the one-month anniversary of the speed drop approaches and considering Spark’s comment to me that I should expect drops with more network users and time of day, I wonder if I’m being softened up to accept this as the new normal.

I changed to wireless as the ADSL was poor at <5 Mb/s but the local cabinet has since been upgraded and I would get 20 Mb/s if I changed back. Incidentally, I also tested a Spark cellphone 4G connection to the same tower (wifi turned off) and got 2/3 Mb/s download. I tested a Vodafone 4G cellphone at the same time to a Vodafone tower 8-10 km away, partially obstructed, and got 55 Mb/s download and a later one at 90 Mb/s.

Following on from the news item about Chorus' active wholesale there is probably going to be more of this....

in what way do you mean here?

With so many being switched to the wireless service capacity will be more highly utilised. Correct me if I am wrong but Spark don't have a CIR of 100mbps on their fixed wireless broadband offer? While UFB or DSL doesn't have 100% CIR either its much, much easier than with 4g to increase CIR when demand increases.

I had similar concerns when I made the post but I take some comfort from hio77 that there is more to this issue than meets the eye. Excessive addition of users should cause a gradual decrease instead of the major one I experienced. However, I'm unsure about hio77's comments about CA. Doesn't carrier aggregation use 2300 MHz? According to gis.geek.nz my tower doesn't have this frequency.

@wara I had this exact same issue but on Skinny, the connection to the tower was rock solid but the throughput was a completely different story, at around the main peak evening time. I managed to speak to several high up RF Spark guys who put it down to congestion. Believe they do monitor this and increase the towers backhaul as and where needed if possible.

Chorus has spent $1.4 billion on making their xDSL broadband network faster. If your still stuck on ADSL or VDSL, why not spend from $150 on a master filter install to make sure you are getting the most out of your connection?I install - Naked DSL, DSL Master Splitters, VoIP, data cabling and general computer support for home and small business.Rural Broadband RBI installer for Ultimate Broadband and Full Flavour

Spark has been unable to resolve the sudden drop in 4G download speed from 90-100 Mb/s to 1 -5 Mb/s which started in the first week of October. This low speed can also be replicated on 4G cellphones (wifi turned off). Upload has remained stable at 40 -50 Mb/s.

I have started the move back to xdsl. The local cabinet was upgraded after I switched to wireless over 2 years ago. I'm at the edge of vdsl coverage but might be lucky. My neighbour gets 18 - 20 with adsl.

Spark has been unable to resolve the sudden drop in 4G download speed from 90-100 Mb/s to 1 -5 Mb/s which started in the first week of October. This low speed can also be replicated on 4G cellphones (wifi turned off). Upload has remained stable at 40 -50 Mb/s.

I have started the move back to xdsl. The local cabinet was upgraded after I switched to wireless over 2 years ago. I'm at the edge of vdsl coverage but might be lucky. My neighbour gets 18 - 20 with adsl.

might be up for a decent vdsl connection there.

Disappointed to hear about the lack of resolution....

#include <std_disclaimer>

Any comments made are personal opinion and do not reflect directly on the position my current or past employers may have.